Chapter 21 - Sensitive Touch

Yamato loved to be comfortable in his body, but he was sometimes no longer man. You see, Yamato was genderfluid, so he had He days, She days and Xe days, sometimes hours, or minutes of a gender. Thankfully, Yuuya and his mother had always been supportive of him, no matter what.

Yamato had been anxious and scared - terrified actually - when he came out to his mother. He could remember her reactions clearly as well as his own.

It had been a She day and it made Yamato all the more nervous. She'd woke up feeling comfortable in her body and sure of herself, but slowly, as she prepared herself for the day, she felt more and more anxious. The weather was not helping, changing even second or so. The leaves of their maple tree were falling one by one, each coloured brilliant colours, often carried away by the wind. It had started raining but it was pleasantly sunny not just a moment ago.

Yamato had walked to the kitchen, dread churning in her stomach. Her mother had never been very narrow minded, but she had heard stories of pretty modern parents rejecting their queer children after their coming out. It was with fear plugging her mouth shut that Yamato passed the threshold of the room. She did as she always did in the morning, trying to look as relaxed as possible. She ate her cereal(Very Westernized, but it was tradition in their home), drank her milk in one long gulp and washed her bowl.

As expected, her mother was quick to catch on that her only child was feeling nervous, perhaps even uncomfortable in her presence. Hana moved away from the dining table at which she was seated and made her way to where Yamato was stood, frozen on the spot with apprehension, knots forming in her throat and stomach rolling in protest.

The gentle hand suddenly on her shoulder made Yamato start pretty bad, which in turn startled her mother. The two Kishimoto stared at each other in stunned silent for a few moments before breaking down giggling. Yamato had to admit that it was pretty funny. It made her relax easily. Her mother and her did not always get along but it was familiar territory.

Yamato guided her to the dining table and gestured for her mother to sit. The older woman did as she was bid, gracefully crossing her legs and taking a deliberately open posture. It made her daughter smile faintly. She gathered her courage. She could do it.

"Mama," she started, her voice as strong as she could make it at the moment. It pleased her that it didn't waver. "I... I- Mama. I'm not a man, I mean sometimes I am but not always and it's kind of weird I know but I wanted to tell you that - yeah, I'm not your son right now but your daughter and I might be back to being your son or maybe not, it really depends on my state of mind - oh! And also sometimes I'm neither a man or a woman or maybe I'm both, I'll have to let you know."

It was becoming quickly more and more awkward, as she stumbled on her words and mixed them up. Yamato groaned internally. If only she could actually say something that made sense, but her anxiety was getting to her and the situation was not going as planned and she might barf right now because maybe her mom wouldn't understand and might throw her out because who knows it was a probability Yamato had taken into account and it terrified her and-

Her mother cut her off "Sweetie, I've known for a while now. Why do you think I gave you that extra money for your birthday? I wanted you to be able to spurge a bit and go get nice clothes and accessories. Moreover, my sibling is genderfluid too. Remember Uncle Ai? Well, sometimes it's Aunt Ai instead. We tried to find a gender neutral term but it's rather difficult to find, you see? We settled on Uncle so as not to overwhelm you too much."

Yamato was baffled. While she had not expected any kind of hostile attitude from her dearest persons, it was rather shocking to find out that their usual quite traditional family was already so acceptant, especially since they were that kind of family in the countryside running a familial business and generally being very old-fashioned.

She felt too many emotions crashing into her too quickly. She was absolutely baffled and the slightest bit baffled. Now, she kind of wished she had a box of tissue nearby because she was ready to cry her eyes, mostly because of the waves of relief she felt, and also because of the sudden rush of adrenaline that left her a bit breathless.

Both her mother (and her family!) and Yuuya knew. Inori was her very first supporter. She was glad to have her; as much as a rival she was in vying for Yuuya's attention, she was an amazing person. Bless her whole family, even if they were all weird and eccentric.

Yamato was brought back from her thoughts by a hand waving in front of her face. Oops. She had been quite rude to her mother.

The barest flutter of Hana's hand against her cheek made Yamato give her a smile so large it started to hurt her face. She'd have danced in joy. Instead, she jumped on her mother, the elder's hand coming to rest in her mess of hair. She could now enjoy her petting with a load off her chest. It was a good day.